Fronted by the one and only Danatalia de Silver, who began her life/musical career as Daniel Poulter aka Daniel Darling and lead previous groups such as The Dolly Rocker Movement and Kill City Creeps, The Dandelion are four piece from Sydney who weave retro nostalgia with swirling, driving psych rock and pop.
A follow on from their 2013 release “Strange Case Of The Dandelion” their new single ‘In The Shadow Of Light’ the quartet bring their own mix of musical spells with a sound which they describe as like “seeds turning into flowers they bring gifts for the Goddess of magical powers.”
Check out the single below, and if you like what you hear be sure to visit the band’s Facebook and Bandcamp.
Sydney’s Spirit Valley exist within some strange, twisted limbo of the Australian music scene. To anyone who’s encountered them, they are undeniably, earth-shatteringly fantastic. There’s a Faster Louder review that introduces them as “Best. Band. Ever” and some live photos, but thats about it. Granted the “Death” EP is their first official release, and with distribution from the excellent Dream Damage it’s evident that things are about to change.
Made up of duo of Dave ‘Spirit’ Tomlinson and Chris ‘Valley’ Stabback, Spirit Valley provide the doomshine delivery of swelling guitars and huge drums. Although ‘Doomshine’ sounds like one of those fucking stupid genre names once you actually listen to Spirit Valley, it’s more than apparent that the phrase really does inhabit the sound. From the gradual growl and minimal strums to the slamming snares and reverb dense, furious strikes of the guitars on “Bring Out The Barrel”, each track blossoms up from its dark grinding roots into expansive aching choruses.
My only initial qualm when hearing the EP was coming to terms with the sheer ferocity and volume of Dave Tomlinson’s vocals. It was only when I saw them live that everything clicked into place. Whether he’s crooning like a drunken pirate doing karaoke on the harpsichord opening “Sazerac”, or howling from the bottom of his lungs on Doomshine Blues, the rich roaring chants of Tomlinson are what makes Spirit Valley. And then there’s the title track. This song is what the EP is really all about, what Spirit Valley are about, and what a really fucking good song is about. “Death” is one of those freakily fantastic songs which immediately catapults the listener into a spine-shaking , soul-destroying riff and coupled the building kicks, hisses and howls, it’s a perfect song by anyone’s standards. This is what Spirit Valley do best, where percussion and guitar come together so seamlessly, and with such ease that you immediately lose yourself.
“Nothing’s As It Seems” and “Taken Blame” are the first 2 singles from Sydney based Gordi. The 21 year-old indie folk artist evokes a kind of nostalgia that lingers long after her strumming stops. A diverse musical diet including classic folk icons like Carole King, Paul Kelly and Joni Mitchell and their modern counterparts in The Tallest Man on Earth, Asgeir Trausti and Laura Marling bring a welcome sense of familiarity to her songs. But the craft in her song writing is found partly in the emotional spectrum that her tracks span – from wistful aching to spirited celebration, her lyrical journeys take us places in our memories and imaginations that belie her 21 years. The candour in Gordi’s songs is matched by a vocal tone that is at once fractured and brimming with richness. Combining vintage vocal layering and earthy guitar textures with delicate modern electronic production, Gordi’s sonic palette is one she can call her own.
Sydney is evidently the city of the week, because here comes Gordi, a 21-year-old indie folk/folktronic singer-songwriter whose pure, clear tones over sparse synthetic accompaniments and minimal acoustic guitar, have drawn comparisons with Angel Olsen, Asgeir and Laura Marling. “Nothing’s As It Seems” is about about “the struggle to move on from something or someone”, she says, explaining that the lyrics are a lot darker than the melody in order to show the difference “between the face we show others and what we’re actually feeling inside”. Breezy wintry melancholy at its finest.
While down under in Australia , Justin Townes Earle recorded a cover of the Fleetwood Mac hit, “Dreams” live for FBi Radio. Recorded live on ‘Tune Up’ with Stuart Coupe on FBi Radio Sydney 94.5 FM in Sydney, 14 October 2014. PO Box 1962, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
From Sydney Australia comes Los Tones, their debut album release “Psychotropic” came out in October 2014,
Borrowing the name of the building they were living in, Elstow was born out of an appreciation for the melodic folk stylings of sixties heroes Simon & Garfunkel and The Mamas & The Papas. Initially a duo, Jared Shaw and Chel Browne played Peats Ridge Festival in 2012 on the back of a few rough demos before taking some time off to travel and come to grips with their wider musical influences.
In 2013 Elstow expanded to incorporate five members. Drawing on the west coast psychedelic sounds of bands such as Jefferson Airplane and Peanut Butter Conspiracy, as well as nineties alt-psych idols Brian Jonestown Massacre and Mazzy Star, Elstow started work on their debut EP.
To be released in 2014, the result is a five track EP comprised of dreamy psychedelic landscapes fused with a unique folk sensibility. Combining surreal and at times haunting atmospherics with a subtle, personal approach, it’s their own variety of neo-psychedelic-folk pop.
please just listen to the track “Elderflower Bloom” .
Ela Stiles singer songwriter based in Sydney, Australia. I’m not sure what the self-titled debut album from Australian musician Ela Stiles is supposed to be. an album recorded completely accapella with no instruments utilised bar Stiles’s vocals, in order to capture her at her most striking and vulnerable. But in practice, it just doesn’t feel complete.
The album is split into two distinct sides. The first half contains six short vignettes no more than two-and-a-bit minutes in length. There are some good things about these tracks – Stiles does have a strong and distinctive voice, which allows her to carry off the more conventional songs like the folky ‘Legs Don’t Bend’ quite well. However, at the same time it feels as if this whole section has been rushed and left unfinished. ‘Nothing Remains’ is over in 0 seconds, which doesn’t even give it a chance to start, let alone finish, whilst the titles of two of the songs, ‘Untitled Drone’ and ‘Untitled Man’, seem to suggest that these are merely the embryonic beginnings of some future track, not finished products in their own right.
Now here’s Little May, the Australian The Sydney trio’s eponymous debut EP, released last month, has folky and rhythmic elements, spectral harmonies and hooky tunes,
Little May’s provides further evidence that they’re going to get a lot of attention this season, Boardwalks finds them bemoaning the disappearance of a bad boy like three Lana Del Reys;
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